Solid-state laser systems are characterized in that they have a solid-state laser gain medium which converts energy from a pump source to a coherent output laser beam. The pump source can be one of many available energy-producing systems such as flash lamps or semiconductor laser diodes. The energy produced by the pump source is incident upon the laser medium and absorbed thereby.
The absorbed energy in the laser medium causes the atoms in the laser medium to be excited and placed in a higher energy state. Once at this higher state, the laser medium releases its own energy which is placed into an oscillating state by the use of a laser resonator. The laser resonator includes at least two reflective surfaces located on either side of the laser medium. The laser resonator may be designed to continuously release a laser beam from the system. Alternatively, the resonator can be designed such that when the energy oscillating in the laser medium reaches a predetermined level, it is released from the system as a high-power, short-duration laser beam.
In many systems, the laser medium is Neodymium-doped, Yttrium-Aluminum Garnet (Nd:YAG). A laser medium made from Nd:YAG absorbs optical energy most readily when the energy is at a wavelength of approximately 808 nanometers. Thus, the source to pump the Nd:YAG laser medium should be emitting light energy at approximately 808 nanometers. Semiconductor laser diodes can be manufactured with dopants that will cause the emitted light to be in a variety of wavelengths, including 808 nanometers. Thus, the semiconductor lasers, which are lasers by themselves act as the pump source for the laser medium.
The emitted light produced from the solid-state laser system is generally coherent and exits the system in a predefined area. Thus, the optical power produced can be readily focused by the use of other optical components such as lenses. The resultant emitted energy can be used for a variety of purposes including the exposure of photoactive materials, melting materials, oblating materials or even vaporizing materials.
In many uses for laser systems, it is necessary to have multiple laser outputs where each beam performs a unique function or where each beam acts in conjunction with other beams to perform one task. In prior art systems, this is accomplished by providing multiple solid-state laser systems that each produce a beam. The beams from each system are then used to perform the required task or tasks.
However, providing multiple solid-state laser systems to produce multiple laser beams has many disadvantages. For example, the space required to locate each system is large since many of the same components that operate the systems are present "X" times when "X" number of systems are used. Controlling the overall system requires extra equipment since the control electronics for each laser system is typically coupled into a master controller for the overall system. Furthermore, because many of the components in each system are redundant, there is an extra cost associated with procuring these multiply redundant components.